Can contests, prizes and money engage people in contributing to the Wikipedia/Wikimedia and other free projects? We all are always looking for new and better ways to motivate people to contribute to WP/WM projects. Wikimedia Germany has tried different methods and I’d like to share and discuss some of our diverse experiences. My goal for these 30 minutes is that we all leave with inspiration for increasing engagement.

1. Wikipedia and beyond: Incentivizing engagement Nicole Ebber Wikimedia DeutschlandGesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/incentives

2. About Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. Founded in 2004 Approved non-profit organisation Berlin office Staffof 20 employees 1200+ members (asofJuly 2011) Thousandsofvolunteers

3. Volunteers What they spend on the WM projects: Passion Knowledge Skills Time How we support them: Infrastructure Communication Experience Money

4. Whatmotivatesyoutocontribute? I want to support Free Knowledge I like being part of a bigger whole My work is appreciated I want to help others ‘cause it’s fun, and my friends are here I like competing with others I can win a prize

5. Zedler-Medal (2007-2010) Goal: Engage external experts Best scientific (Natural Science, Humanities) Wikipedia articles Frist prize: 2 x 2,000 €, sponsored by partners Enhanced promotion 30 submissions per year Nearly only Wikipedians Goals not reached Relaunch in 2011: Zedler Award for Free Knowledge

6. Zedler-Medal (2007-2010) CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons , RaimondSpekking CC-BY-SA, Wikimedia Commons, Elya

7. WissensWert (2010) Kick-start ideas to become great Free Knowledge projects Grant: up to 5,000 € per project 93 submissions Mostly from non-Wikipedians Jury + open voting: 8 projects financed and supervised Nice Social Media coverage To be optimized and continued in 2011

8. CC-BY-SA, Wikimedia Commons, Elya CC-BY, Wikipedia, Daniel Christensen

9. Wiki loves Monuments (2010-2011) Photo contest for monuments in NL Everyone can participate iPad, non-monetary prizes Hunting and gathering! 12,500 submitted photos Nice press coverage 2011: European contest

10. Threekindsofcontestsandprizes: 2,000 € prize for one article and one person 5,000 € grant to realize a project, collaboratively non-monetary prizes for hunting & gathering

11. Wikimedia DeutschlandGesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. Further information: http://wikimedia.de http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/incentives Contact: nicole.ebber@wikimedia.de Twitter: @WikimediaDE Facebook: WMDEev

12. Whatisyourexperiencewithcompetitionsandincentives? Wikimedia Italy Wikimedia UK Wikimedia Czech Wikimedia Nederland YOU? Be bold! Try sth new :) CC-BY-SA, Flickr, opensourceway

13. THANKS! Unlessotherwisenoted, this presentationislicensedunderthe Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0license.

14. Links http://wikimedia.de/wiki/Hauptseite http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Zedler-Medaille http://wikimedia.de/wiki/Wissenswert http://vimeo.com/27002584 http://libreprojects.net/ http://blog.wikimedia.de/2011/07/28/wissenswert-public-domain-projekt/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011 http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/incentives